SAN DIEGO, April 25, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Regarding the report "The Long Term Returns of Obesity Prevention Policies" unveiled this week by the Campaign to End Obesity (CEO), Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: OREX) issued the following statement:

Orexigen commends CEO as well as the author of the report, Alex Brill, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) who funded the report, for this new research illustrating the importance of long-term budget impact analyses on preventive health policies, specifically those aimed at obesity. With obesity contributing over $200 billion annually to healthcare spending, Orexigen agrees that policymakers need thorough budgetary analyses that capture short and long-term impacts of obesity policy. A longer view may enable policymakers to have more information when making legislative decisions. Brill noted that the largest budgetary benefits from reducing the burden of obesity would be federal savings within the Medicare and Medicaid programs that would result from avoiding obesity-related diseases and co-morbidity.

"Today's report supports our belief that, while there are substantial near-term benefits of weight loss for obese patients, an even larger value should accrue to individuals and societies when health improvements are assessed over a longer period of time," said Orexigen CEO, Michael Narachi.

The report's author, Alex Brill, is a Research Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and formerly counsel to the Simpson-Bowles Deficit Reduction Commission and chief economist and policy director to the House Ways and Means Committee. Mr. Brill also served on the President's Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush. Mr. Brill has worked on a variety of economic and legislative policy issues, including dividend taxation, the alternative minimum tax, international tax policy, social security reform, defined benefit pension reform and U.S. trade policy.

Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the treatment of obesity. The Company's lead product candidate is Contrave®, which has completed Phase 3 clinical trials and for which a New Drug Application has been submitted and reviewed by the FDA. The Company has also reached agreement with the FDA on a Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) for the Light Study, the Contrave cardiovascular outcomes trial. The Company's other product candidate, Empatic, has completed Phase 2 clinical trials. Further information about the Company can be found at www.orexigen.com.